Pickups and Pirates (Southern Relics Cozy Mysteries Book 3)

by Bella Falls

  “Why?” I asked, finding Ebonee’s name in my list of contacts.

  Mason looked over his shoulder at something behind him. “Because Nigel Lansing’s dead.”

  Deputy Sheriff Caine held up his hands to quiet the crowd. “I need for everyone to back up and not approach the dock,” he called out, barking orders at his colleagues from the county sheriff’s department to do a better job. He lowered his sunglasses a little to glare at me. “That means you, too, Ms. Jewell.”

  It stung when he called me out by name. “But I was there when the body was discovered.”

  “From what I’ve heard, it was visiting Detective Clairmont who boarded the boat. And I’m not so sure where an out of town law enforcement officer has the right to enter onto a property without a warrant or any extenuating circumstances.” The deputy sheriff wiggled his mustache to accent his point.

  I couldn’t see his eyes from behind his aviator-style sunglasses, but I imagined the level of contempt rising in them. “I told you that if you found the bell and a coin on the boat, they were both stolen properties.”

  “And were the thefts reported?” he clarified. “I already know the answer, but why don’t you tell it to me anyway?”

  Charli grumbled beside me, no doubt getting the same first impression I did when I first met Deputy Sheriff Caine.

  “No, not yet,” I admitted with a sigh. Changing tactics, I brought up another point for him to focus on. “What about his colleagues?”

  “I already took down the description of the girl you said was working with him to video the presentation at the museum during the Pirate’s Festival. We’ll work on identifying her.” The deputy didn’t even give me the courtesy of taking down a note. “What else do you think you have? You might as well get it all out, because I know you’re like a dog with a bone.”

  I waited for him to get his pad and pencil ready, but my opportunity to garner his attention faded with every second that ticked by. “In the videos, he always talked about his team. And there’s clearly someone who is operating the camera recording him. So, if I were you, I’d be figuring out who he might be working with. If Mason’s right and it looks like he was in a struggle and got stabbed and strangled, it sounds like someone other than the girl was involved.”

  “That’s enough, Ms. Jewell. The detective should have known better than to give you any details of the scene. I shall have to file an official report against him for breaking protocol.” He turned and marched down the dock in the direction of where Mason stood giving a statement to another deputy.

  The two law enforcement officers got into a bit of a verbal spar with each other until Mason held up his hands in surrender.

  Charli shaded her eyes to watch for when her boyfriend made his way back to us. “How do you resist hexing his hiney when he talks to you like that?”

  I flexed my fingers in consideration of the option. “With incredible restraint. Plus, the knowledge that if he got any confirmation of the existence of magic, he would be the one who would hound me till my dying days.”

  “We should get going.” Mason jerked a thumb at the area behind him. “The warden back there allowed me to keep my phone even though I took pictures and a video of the scene. And I don’t like that one sheriff. I’ve got more experience than him, yet he tries to treat me like a rookie. He’s relentless in his pursuit of being an absolute—”

  “Hey, there’s a new video going live on Nigel’s channel,” somebody shouted, interrupting the detective.

  I didn’t answer the immediate text from Odie but pressed play on the video and turned my screen to watch. Nigel started the feed like a normal update except the angle on him was a bit different.

  “How is this stream live if he isn’t?” I murmured to Mason.

  “Hey, fellow adventurers. I’m Nigel Lansing, using my selfie stick to update you on the absolute latest in the quest to discover Ann Bonnet’s pirate treasure. Now, I wanted to give you an update on—wait a minute, what are you doing here?” The view tilted to the side as he addressed someone off screen. “You can’t do this to me! We’re working together on this. You can’t…don’t!”

  The camera dropped to the floor of the boat, and murmurs and gasps from those of us watching peppered the air.

  “Did he inadvertently record his own death?” Charli whispered to Mason, looking around at everyone’s shocked expressions. “Wouldn’t this be considered evidence?”

  “It’s a public feed,” the detective replied. “There’s nothing anyone can do to stop it at this point.”

  Nigel’s body hit the deck with a thud, and someone’s hands wrapped around his neck. Shrieks and cries broke out around us, and I covered my mouth in shock.

  “No…more…No…more,” the adventurer gasped, his arms flailing about in defense.

  Whoever assaulted him stayed out of the frame but grunted when Nigel landed a few hits with his hands. Another wild wave of the adventurer’s arm and the view spun when the camera swung out of view. The last thing that appeared was the bottom of a shoe stomping on top of the lens before the feed cut out.

  The live feed didn’t cut out right away. Instead, another face appeared, and I recognized the girl from the other day at Rissa’s presentation. She spoke directly into her camera. “To anybody watching, you now have been witnesses to Nigel Lansing’s murder. He was killed in his pursuit of ‘Bonny’ Ann Bonnet’s treasure. I found this footage uploaded to our cloud account, and I hope that if there are any police out there, you use it to find whoever is responsible for Nigel’s demise.”

  “Is it brave or monumentally stupid what she’s doing?” I asked, not expecting to hear the obvious answer.

  “And in Nigel’s honor, I’d like you to consider donating to make it possible to achieve his final quest. The link is in the description. Let us finish what Nigel started to honor his memory. Thank you for your continued support.” The girl’s face full of supposed sorrow disappeared as the video feed ended.

  I clicked on the link and followed it to a popular payment site. “Well, now we know why she was willing to reveal herself and risk painting a target on her back. I’ll bet some of these idiots here will actually donate, thinking there is a treasure to be found.”

  “Wait, isn’t there?” Charli asked.

  I worked my way through the crowd toward the truck, eager to head to my family’s house. “That’s what we need to figure out. Our ability to finish what we started just got a lot harder.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  By the time we arrived at the big house, the kitchen was full of good food and good people. They balanced plates of Granny Jo’s cooking wherever they could find space, filling their mouths and discussing all different subjects, including new theories about Ann Bonnet’s treasure.

  The three of us were greeted with enthusiastic cheers, and Dad popped out of his chair and insisted Charli take it while he fetched her a glass of sweet tea. He ruffled my hair as he greeted me and shook Mason’s hand.

  I looked around the cramped space, trying to locate my boyfriend. “Where’s Luke?”

  “Still got his nose in those books upstairs,” Granny Jo poked the metal tongs she held up at the ceiling. “He and Auggie have barely come out for hours other than the occasional times either of them wanted to grill me about something that happened a couple of centuries before I was born. As if I’m a walkin’, talkin’ encyclopedia.”

  I accepted a plate of goodies prepared for me by my father and scooped up a little potato salad on my fork. “Well, you are the most present spirit in the house. And you do communicate with the other spirits hanging around.”

  My ghostly great-grandmother pulled her attention away from the chicken sizzling on the stove. “And that’s another thing. Generations of Jewells are buzzing about, making a whole lot of noise but a lot less sense. I’m not the ghost wrangler or whisperer. If y’all need more specific answers, you’re gonna have to figure out who you want to talk to and call on them. Leave me the heck out of it.
I don’t recall signin’ up for herdin’ ghosts”

  A little smoke rose from the stove. “I think you might need to watch your skillet,” I warned, taking a step back from the inevitable tirade coming.

  “Dang and blast, now they’ve made me burn the chicken.” Her corporeal form faded in and out in her frustration. “I never burn it!”

  Uncle Jo entered through the back door, whipping off his hat and wiping his face off with a bandana. “Why’s it smell like burnt chicken?” He ducked as the tongs were tossed at him. “What’d I do?”

  The rest of us picked up our food and drinks, hustling out of the room to find a safer place to finish lunch. We took up residence around the dining room table and ate until we’d cleaned our plates. I enjoyed the momentary quiet our busy mouths provided. Before too long, we’d be right back at it with our speculations and guesses.

  Rissa put her fork down and slumped in her chair. “This is a nice break in the insanity. I really needed a bit of calm like this today.”

  A sudden exhaustion hit me, and for a moment, I wished the involvement of the local sheriff’s department might be the key to ending our entire search so we could return to a normal life. Well, as normal as it could get around here.

  “Look at all you lazy bones, sitting around the table like you don’t have a care in the world,” Auggie declared from behind a stack of leather-covered books. She barely waited for my dad to stand up and move his chair out of her way before she shoved everything into his arms. “Take those into Campy’s study and put them on the table. There’s more coming.”

  Luke followed behind her, carrying twice the amount the professor had managed. “I told you to let me carry everything down,” he chastised, making his way around the table.

  “Don’t talk to me like you’re the parent and I’m the child. I don’t give two hoots about your actual age.” Auggie placed a hand on her hip. “As far as I’m concerned, my gray hair and wrinkles beat your youthful good looks.”

  Luke emerged from the study. “My apologies, madam. May I suggest that you remain downstairs and arrange things to make our presentation easier while I bring down the rest?” He bowed at the waist when he finished.

  Auggie turned her annoyed face to me. “How do you put up with him?

  “It’s a burden,” I sighed, winking at him. “Someone’s gotta keep him on the straight and narrow.”

  “Or anchored to the here and now,” Auggie added in a softer tone with a deeper level of understanding than I expected. She cleared her throat and barked out orders. “You’ve got five minutes to finish eating. Rissa, fetch all the things you and Danielle brought back with you from the museum and come help me lay everything out. Hot pants, I’ll take you up on your offer to finish bringing down the rest.”

  I raised my hand. “How can I help?”

  Our resident professor pondered my question. “Your father says there’s a leader of witches that might need to be involved at this stage. Maybe you should ask her to come on over.”

  Mason’s spell phone rang out, and he excused himself to take the call. Taking his exit as a good stopping point, the rest of us sprang into action. Dani contacted Cate and Crystal to update them and ask if they wanted to join in while I helped clear the table and carried the dishes into the kitchen.

  Uncle Jo sat at the table, cleaning off the bone of what looked like his third or fourth piece of chicken. “There’s a lot of fussin’ and disturbin’ the natural state of our home,” he observed, licking his fingers one by one.

  “It should only be for a short while longer. I think we’re moving towards the end of the whole thing,” I said, scraping food off into the garbage and stacking plates in the soapy water in the sink to soak. “How’s Deacon and the state of the barn?”

  My uncle leaned back in his chair and patted his protruding belly. “There wasn’t as much to clean up on the inside as there were downed branches and leaves on the outside. Although I’ve been finding chicken feathers all over the place. Rex must have given my boy a heckuva time during the storm.”

  I could count on one hand the times Uncle Jo talked about his son after he was cursed into his pig form. Taking the rare opportunity, I sat down in a chair next to him. “What did Deac tell you?”

  “We don’t talk much,” my uncle admitted, picking at a loose thread on his hat. “I think I’ve taken it for granted that we would come up with a solution to solve his current predicament far sooner than we have. And maybe my failure has resulted in me keeping myself more distant than I should.”

  Reaching out my hand, I patted his knee. “Then maybe it’s time we got all of the Jewell’s involved in making it a priority to figure out how to fix Deacon. You’re not the only one who’s allowed their frustration to affect their relationship with him.”

  Although Dani’s brother and I always clashed a little because of his ego, he was still family. And I may have reveled in him getting his comeuppance a little too much instead of drawing on my compassion to help.

  Uncle Jo sniffed. “If we could find a way to turn him back, maybe there’s a chance I can salvage our relationship in the long run.”

  Dad entered the kitchen, waving his spell phone. “I called Ebonee. She’s on her way.” He paused as he caught sight of me and my uncle. “What did I miss?”

  Blinking away the tears in my eyes, I stood. “Uncle Jo and I are making plans of what we’re doing next.” I squeezed my uncle’s shoulder. “But first, we need to finish the job the coven’s paying us for and solve the mystery of the pirate’s treasure.”

  “There is no treasure,” Auggie declared, ignoring the rising murmurs of disbelief. “At least, not in the way everybody’s been assuming.”

  Rissa leaned forward, her chair creaking underneath her. “None of what you’re saying makes any sense. If there isn’t any treasure, then what about the map? The whole thing we girls went through to get the shell and find the aquamarine stone? Dr. Simon’s box? All of it. It means nothing?”

  Luke held up a finger to get her to stop panic rambling. “Everything has a purpose, but none of that would be clear if we hadn’t gone through Daniel Jewell’s writings and records to put together some points. His way with how he presents the entire situation of events is truly beautiful once you get used to the style of prose from that time.”

  The coven leader uncrossed and re-crossed her legs in impatience. “Could we hurry things along? Maybe just a few important highlights of your theory.”

  Auggie picked up a piece of chalk and drew a line down the middle of the blackboard with a loud chill-inducing screech. While the rest of us moaned at the terrible sound, she labeled the side on the left with “Today’s Evidence” and the side on the right with “History’s Facts.”

  Charli leaned over to ask in my ear, “Have you seen Mason?”

  I shook my head no, wondering where the warden had wandered off to.

  “Okay, pay attention because I don’t want to have to backtrack and repeat myself. It’ll get way too confusing, so let’s just do this once,” the professor instructed. “Now, I’m going to list things on the evidence side in, what I assume, is the chronological order from how we’ve interacted with everything.

  “First, I managed to find the bell and a buried box of coins on Radio Island near my cabin, although I’d done that long before the rest of the mess started. Then Rissa, my former brilliant student, gives a lecture at the museum about Ann Bonnet. A surprise hurricane hits the area, which becomes the catalyst for the next few occurrences.

  “Nigel Lansing announces he’s found the wreck of Neptune’s Rose, although the evidence he presents was stolen from me. Ms. Johnson presents Buck and Ruby Mae with a pretty authentic map and the first clue. Your team of strong women go to that sea island off the Bellfort Channel and find the shell. We discover the aquamarine stone inside the conch and find its connection to the map. Dr. Simons brings his evidence with the box and finds it empty. And this is where we think we are right now, unsure of where the next cl
ue we assume we have will lead us.”

  Mason took the temporary pause in the presentation to come into the room. I got up to give him the chair next to Charli and found a place to stand out of the way.

  Ebonee tapped her lip with her finger. “I’m concerned when you say that we’re where we think we are. Is there a reason for the doubt?”

  “Several,” Luke chimed in. He tapped his finger on the chalkboard. “You forgot to add that Daniel Jewell’s office revealed itself right here before the meeting with Dr. Simons.”

  “Right, that’s important.” Auggie drew an arrow to the side and scribbled the information on a free space of the board.

  Luke picked up a journal and held it up. “Based on the notes in here, all of the events where something was found—the bell, the coins, the shell, even the box, and the map itself—none of its real.” He waited for Auggie to write those words on the right side of the chalkboard.

  “That’s a bold claim to make when we’re looking right at it all,” Dad said, nodding his head at the table full of all the items Luke had just listed.

  My boyfriend opened the book. “All of the clues you’ve found, they were all made up by Daniel himself sometime after Ann’s death. There are versions of each verse written in here with mistakes and corrections as well as the intent of each one to obfuscate anyone who tried to interpret the clues.”

  “I don’t mean to be dense,” interrupted Odie. “But what does obfuscate mean?”

  “The forefather of the Jewell line was intentionally trying to fool people. The whole treasure hunt is actually an elaborate fraud,” Auggie stated, a satisfied grin settling on her face when the room erupted in protests.

  Ebonee waited for the noise to abate, sipping on her iced tea with a cooler head than I had. “I find it hard to swallow that every bit of what’s on the left side of the board is all due to an elaborate eighteenth-century prank. What about Thomas Gandry being given the map?”